Make-A-Wish Foundation of Orange County and the Inland Empire, Inc.
Transform lives, one wish at a time
Learn how to support this organization
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Together, we create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Wish Granting
Make-A-Wish has a singular mission delivery program - creating life-changing wishes for children battling critical illnesses in Orange, Riverside and San Bernadino Counties. Every 20 minutes, a family in our community receives the devastating news that their child has been diagnosed with a critical illness. In addition to hospital stays, doctor visits, and treatments, wish kids and families are now also subjected to added isolation and vulnerability. For these families, a wish empowers and inspires them to comply with treatment, manage their way through the tough days, and look ahead to something that gives them hope.
Where we work
Accreditations
Charter Agreement 2022
Awards
Affiliations & memberships
Make-A-Wish America 1983
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of Wishes Granted
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children
Related Program
Wish Granting
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Wishes granted per fiscal year. *Towards the end of Fiscal Year 2022, national wish travel was resumed.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The mission of Make-A-Wish® Orange County and the Inland Empire is one that brings hope, strength, and joy to children, families, and our community. Together, with our community, we create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. Make-A-Wish Orange County and the Inland Empire is planning for a bright future. Our short- and long-term strategic plan includes COVID-19 strategies of operations to decrease our pipeline as well as goals for growth in the future to ensure every eligible child is granted a wish.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our key strategies focus on our four pillars. In our four pillars of operations, we’re setting aggressive goals in the following areas:
1. Increase our Revenue: We’re strengthening new digital and individual giving strategies to ensure no child’s wish has to wait.
2. Grant More Wishes: We’ve set goals to reduce the wish pipeline and improve awareness on the value and power of a wish.
3. Inspire Our People: We’re empowering strong leadership and fostering a culture of inclusion and diversity.
4. Enhance our Capabilities: We’re improving technology, technical capabilities and building staff skills to continue adapting to business needs in a remote office environment.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We have a dedicated staff, Board, volunteers and generous donors that help us move our mission forward. We’re excited about the growth ahead for Make-A-Wish Orange County and the Inland Empire. And thanks to support from hundreds of local volunteers and donors, we can’t wait to provide wishes to every eligible child.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
FY20 Granted 200 Wishes and 232 Wish Assists and raised $4,463,553 In support of our mission.
FY21 (Our current year) We are ahead of our Wish granting goal and revenue generation that will position us for success as we continue to build out our pipeline strategy influenced from Covid-19. Granting wishes, focusing on the health of our organization and working on our program ratio is key as we come out of Covid-19 restrictions and impact.
FY22 While the
effects of the pandemic were still very prevalent this past fiscal
year, our team continued to adapt to grant wishes for our wish kids.
With the phased approach to granting both large gathering and
domestic travel wishes beginning in late June 2022, the fiscal year
was truly one of emergence. At the close of the year, we were able
to grant an incredible 247 wishes.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Make-A-Wish Foundation of Orange County and the Inland Empire, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 09/07/2023
Whit Batchelor
Senior Vice President, Whittier Trust
Term: 2021 - 2023
Corey Donaldson
Avalon Properties
Whit Batchelor
Whittier Trust
Jason Lantgen
JLL
Joffre Olaya
CHOC Pediatric Neurosurgeon; Assistant Professor UCI Department of Neurosurgery
Carie Jernquist-Ferry
Community Philanthropist
Shari Simmons
Philanthropist
Jesse Chang
Capital Group
Joel Sprague
Robert R. Sprague Foundation
Kris Theiler
Disneyland Park
Joone Kim-Lopez
Moulton Niguel Water District
Kimberly Worsnop
Philanthropist
Jeff Lewis
US Bank
Komron Tarkeshian
Origin Point
Mark Carlos
Kimley-Horn
Mike Colonna
NORMS Restaurants, LLC
Dolores Salman
Netflix
Andy Nickerson
HdL Companies
Mike Zemetra
Veritone
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 06/09/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.